Todd D. Peterson

Todd D. Peterson received his BA with Honors from Brown University and his JD, summa cum laude from the University of Michigan Law School.  He joined the law school faculty in 1987. Earlier, he had been a partner at the Washington, DC firm of Ross, Dixon & Masback, where he specialized in commercial litigation. Professor Peterson also served as an attorney adviser in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, which is responsible for providing advice to the attorney general and White House on constitutional law issues. He began practice in the fields of administrative and commercial litigation at the DC firm of Crowell & Moring.

Professor Peterson has served as a consultant to the National Commission on Judicial Discipline and Removal and as co-chair of the D.C. Circuit Special Committee on Race and Ethnic Bias. From 1997 to 1999, Professor Peterson returned to the Office of Legal Counsel to serve as deputy assistant attorney general. 

Professor Peterson teaches civil procedure, professional identity formation, and separation of powers. He writes principally in the areas of separation of powers, civil procedure and law-student and attorney well-being.  In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he is the Director of the GW Law Inns of Court and Foundations of Practice programs, which are an integral part of GW Law’s professional identity development curriculum.